Welcome to Court Watch #151. In this week’s issue, we struggled to decide what should be our lede. Is it that the FBI nearly doubled this year’s number of arrests of alleged ISIS American supporters with a single case? Or maybe it is the millions of cryptocurrency seized in Texas? Should we lean into a fluff lede about how your favorite multi-color cereal might be a bit light on weight but heavy on calories? Perhaps instead we explain the history of earthworms so you can appreciate why it leads to national security charges?
The lede could have been any one of those things. But for the sake of brevity, let’s make it none of them and simply dive right into this week’s roundup.
The Docket Roundup
Spotify was accused of hosting fake users to inflate its number of listeners. The suit’s introduction is worth a read, if only for the Drake diss.
If a Russian hacker (Aleksey Volkov) gets charged in Indiana and no other news organization notices, does it make a sound?
Alexis Wilkins, country music singer and the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, sued a conservative influencer and one-time candidate for U.S. Senate. The suit claims the influencer lied when he accused Wilkins of acting as a covert agent for Israel. In a related news, a FBI whistleblower is pushing back against a similar Wilkins’ lawsuit, arguing that the social media posts were sarcastic.
Do you feel like your box of Fruity Pebbles is only 80% full? Well, there’s a civil case for that.
The feds are seizing millions in cryptocurrency as part of a crackdown on online gambling.
Johnson and Johnson are trying to move the Ken Paxton’s ‘tylenol-hurts-you’ lawsuit to the federal courts.
Prosecutors are wary about supporting a man’s bid to leave jail temporarily on an ankle monitor to attend his friend’s funeral. The feds said he had already possessed a firearm illegally and shot from a moving car in a residential neighborhood while wearing an ankle monitor before his detention.
A Florida man drank “gin and juice” to stop his violent thoughts about politicians but it wasn’t enough to prevent charges for threatening a Congresswoman.
It took less than twelve hours after California passed Prop 50 for a lawsuit to challenge its constitutionality. The California Republican Party is one of the named plaintiffs, and they’re being represented by the Dhillon Law Group.
Eyes look emoji as the U.S. Government filed a sealed statement of interest involving a former Saudi national security official pushing for subpoenas in a Canadian case.
You’ve seen The Big Short. Now, hear about what happens when a short on a cannabis company and conflicts of interest go horribly wrong.
The former head administrator of Indiana University’s student publications is suing over his termination. He says IU fired him after he refused to censor the student-run college newspaper.
The Trump Organization has filed a new civil lawsuit against online stores selling camo MAGA hats without permission.
Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio and four other J6ers’ case against the government hit another snag.
An organization called “Election Truth Alliance” is suing to force Pennsylvania to re-count part of the 2024 presidential election.
An Alabama man was arrested after he allegedly left a series of voice mails and texts threatening Muslim and Jewish community leaders nationwide. According to court records, local law enforcement recovered a suitcase loaded with ammunition and a list containing names and addresses of prominent religious leaders from the man’s home.
Alan Dershowitz was sued by Rabbi Shmuley, a frequent guest on Oprah and self-help author, for defamation.
The feds want five years in prison for each of the co-founders of Samourai Wallet, a crypto trading platform that prosecutors say was used to launder at least $237 million in illicit proceeds.
Stepping out of our normal scruffy guy with a guitar comfort zone for today’s song of the week.
A man from Washington state admitted to threatening a member of Congress and their staffers over the potential loss of his Social Security benefits.
A Texas woman who represents herself as a J6 jury expert is suing the attorneys for several J6 defendants, accusing them of filing a report she wrote without prior approval or payment.
Laura Loomer’s bid to depose the CEO of HBO in her case against Bill Maher was shot down.
Two young men allegedly snuck into a Harvard Medical School building on Halloween night and set off a cherry bomb. Also, wearing white Crocs to a Halloween party is a choice and should carry higher penalties than possession of an unregistered explosive device.
The FBI arrested a man agents say was behind TikTok user “sir_geralt1663” who reportedly posted several threats targeting ICE and FBI agents.
The feds say they stopped an ISIS-inspired attack on Halloween by one man and a minor from Dearborn, Michigan. The FBI also charged a third man and listed several other co-conspirators for their ties to the plot. And yesterday, they arrested two more men in New Jersey who were reportedly related to the purported terror plot. Also late last night news that the DOJ has filed charges against a juvenile in this case. If you’re interested in the phenomena of Americans supporting ISIS and want to read a 248 page Court Watch style book on ISIS, may we humbly suggest this.
Meanwhile, in that same district, investigators say a group of University of Michigan researchers who are Chinese nationals tried to smuggle in biological samples (specifically, worms) for lab work. It’s apparently a very eclectic field office in Detroit.
The state of California was sued by a group of teachers and parents for a recently enacted law that increases anti-discrimination protections for Jewish students. The teachers and parents claimed the law interferes with educators’ ability to teach about Israel.
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A Nebraska college student was indicted on charges of impersonating law enforcement (No, this one wasn’t on Halloween).
A government motion in a case involving the alleged Abbey Gate plotter successfully got sealed forever. We, for one, just set a calendar reminder for a few years from now to file a motion to unseal it just out of principle and spite.
The “H3Snark” subreddit/Ethan Klein case is heating up.
Shrimpgate, a scandal that has roiled Charleston’s foodie community after dozens of restaurants were accused of cooking frozen shrimp purchased from China, has concluded. A judge said the plaintiff, an organization of local shrimpers, lacked standing to sue.
The National Association of the Deaf successfully sued the administration over the purported absence of American Sign Language interpreters at White House press briefings.
Prosecutors pushed back on an Illinois defense attorney’s request for an evidentiary hearing in a case about two protestors allegedly vandalizing a CBP vehicle. The CBP agent had continued to drive the vehicle and was partially repaired before a judge weighed in.
As President Trump’s case against Iowa pollster Ann Selzer ends, another emerges…and then ends quickly when a federal judge has dismissed the class action defamation lawsuit.
Nothing like a decades-old Vegas credit card scheme to kick off the weekend.
The man who allegedly posted on TikTok an offer to pay $10,000 to someone who carries out a hit on ICE agents was indicted.
Florida man strikes again. This time, with alleged threats targeting James Comey, Letitia James, Hunter Biden, Graham Platner, and federal judges on a message board for The Gateway Pundit, a conservative website.
There’s drama over a law firm’s retainer in a case that sued the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago sued Chicago’s Board of Education for access to publicly approved funds, arguing that their students were discriminated against because of their religious beliefs.
James Brooks’ eagle eyes in an Alaska federal court filing broke some national news about expanding penalties for folks who protested near federal buildings.
A former South Carolina state legislator and attorney was indicted on money laundering charges for reportedly stealing more than half a million dollars from his clients.
Twitter was sued again for allegedly failing to pay severance packages to employees fired by Elon Musk..
A police officer in Virginia pleaded guilty to a nearly million-dollar loan fraud scheme.
Here’s a Medicare fraud case allegedly by the same guy who was convicted of health care fraud in 2012 and banned from Medicare for fifteen years.
A Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army and the Puerto Rico National Guard is suing over an investigation into him by the FBI, which did not lead to federal charges, but purportedly hindered his career.
The state of Maryland is fighting to keep the FBI’s next headquarters.
Montana federal prosecutors indicted the wrong person, who luckily had a lawyer for a civil case with a relationship to the U.S. Attorney’s office which allowed her to set the record straight and get the indictment dismissed.
This random Alaskan plumber suing over union rules wouldn’t normally rise to a level of our newsletter (editor’s note: because we’re so discerning in what gets into this roundup), but we took an interest in the law firm that is pursuing the case, which may be a Trojan horse attempt towards a Supreme Court ruling on union issues.
The feds want more time on their first October 7th terror attack case, citing the issues involving getting the documents and information from Israel.
In August, we casually noted that the Sandwich throwing guy hired, in our humble opinion, based on looking at tens of thousands of criminal cases for the last decade, the best defense attorney in America – Sabrina Shroff. The jury verdict proved us right.
A case to keep watching: You get the sense in the opinion that a federal judge thought the argument was quite valid but couldn’t wrap her head around the extreme end result of ruling in favor of a preliminary injunction to dissolve the Parole Commission and immediately release 70 incarcerated folks. The case is ongoing.
The EPA and the state of Louisiana are suing a company that blew up.
This is bad and it’s only going to get worse.
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